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Moonshadow Belgian Shepherds, Australia Our History How Moonshadow Kennels come into being..... In 1981 we were living in Adelaide
and we purchased a sweet loving puppy that we named Kandy, which we later
discovered was a part-Belgian Shepherd.
At that time, there were few Belgian Shepherds in Australia, and very,
very few in South Australia. We were
delighted with our new puppy which we purchased as a companion for our other
dog "Spot", a German Shepherd cross. Our two dogs were an integral part of our
family and our son's constant companions over the ensuing years. In 1991 we lost our much-loved older dog at
the age of 15yrs, and after a period of grieving we decided to go looking for
another Belgian Shepherd puppy. In 1994 we discovered that
there was a lovely litter of Belgian Shepherd Groenendael
puppies in Bungendore, close to the ACT border, so
off we went to see them. The pups were
5 weeks old and full of life and mischief.
Amongst them was a very confident little girl who became ours at the
age of 9 weeks. Her pedigree name is Mashiara Moonshadow who we called "Shadow". One day when Shadow and Lesley were walking
in the park, they met a lady, Rae Officer, with her Groenendael
puppy Ringo.
Rae strongly encouraged Lesley to show Shadow (then aged 6 months) in
the Conformation "Show" ring, and Rae became a firm friend and was
instrumental in helping Lesley and Rob to understand and enjoy the fun of Dog
Showing. Kandy and Spot 1990 Kandy and Shadow
1994 BSD Club of NSW members
fundraising In 1995, we became registered
as breeders under the prefix Moonshadow Kennels,
with the Royal New South Wales Canine Council (now known as Dogs New South
Wales), the organisation that controls all aspects
of pedigree dogs in the state of New South Wales. Then in order to understand
and learn more about the genetics, health, care, breeding and nutritional
needs of dogs, in 1997 Lesley undertook a 1 year full-time Diploma Course in
all aspects of Canine Care in Sydney which she passed with a High
Distinction! We have been active
members of The Belgian Shepherd Dog Club of NSW Inc for the past 12 years and
we currently hold the positions of Vice President (Rob), and Assistant
Secretary (Lesley), plus we publish the Club Newsletter and are closely
involved in running each of the Club Shows. Over the past 12 years we have
regularly competed with our beloved belgians in the
show ring and bred several litters under both the Moonshadow
prefix, and the GraeShadow
prefix, which we co-owned with our friend Camila Hrymek who lives near Melbourne. We have had some spectacular wins with
these dogs, winning Best in Specialty Show, Runner up Best in Specialty Show
and Multiple Class wins in Specialty Shows with our belgians. We are very proud of what we have achieved
to date and continue to strive to breed and show belgians
that are healthy, outgoing, confident and true to type. Our
love of dogs, where it all began..... Both Lesley and Rob Kane had
dogs as adolescents - Les had a German Shepherd named Sonny and Rob had a
Collie Rough named Duke (Rob still has the pedigree papers for his Dukie).
Duke 1955 Our first dog
- Spot as a puppy in 1977 In 1976, we decided that it was
time to get our first dog together. We started referring to this potential
puppy as "Spot", so when we went looking, it was easy to recognise our little puppy when we first saw him. He was
of mixed breeding but a lovely dog and a great companion for our son Mark as
he grew up. In 1980 we decided to get a companion for Spot and our little
Kandy Kane came to join us. Kandy was a wonderful, affectionate dog and one
year we visited the dog ring at the Sydney Royal Show and were delighted to
see a whole group of Belgian Shepherds s who looked like her. She was
obviously a Belgian Shepherd Groenendael cross. After Spot passed away, we
wanted company for Kandy, so decided to look for a full-bred Belgian
Shepherd, since our experience with Kandy was so positive. We got our lovely girl Shadow (Mashiara Moonshadow) from
Melissa Gore in Bungendore in 1994, and have never
had a moments regret! Shadow won her
first Challenge at the Bulli District Kennel Club
Show on 30 April, 1995. This was the start of a successful show career for
Shadow, who had attained her Australian Champion title by the end of 1995.
She went on to amass 579 Challenge points prior to her retirement in
mid-1999. Her biggest victory was winning Challenge Bitch and Runner-up Best
of Breed in the face of strong competition and with a Belgian judge at the
Sydney Royal Show in April, 1997. We were so proud of our girl! And
then there were more..... Shadow was the start of Moonshadow Kennels, named after her, and around a year
later we were lucky enough to acquire our second Belgian, an adorable little Tervueren boy named Baxter (Barakuma
Knight Errant) from Pat Marchevsky, then as now the
Secretary of the Belgian Shepherd Dog Club of NSW. Baxter quickly grew up to
become a big strong handsome boy, and also distinguished himself in the show
ring, obtaining his Australian Champion title in September 1996 and winning
328 Challenge points from February 1996 until his retirement from the showring in March 2003.
Shadow and Baxter 1995 Baxter 1996 Our
first litter..... In 1997 we decided to have our
first litter, and bred Shadow with Harley (Australian Champion Zellik Notorious Flyer A.D.), who was imported from the
UK and jointly owned by Camila Hrymek
of Graebelge Kennels and Helene Cremona of Lumineux Kennels. We had
five lovely puppies, two boys - Zulu and Mali, and three girls - Peppercorn,
Bumble-Bee and Pixie. Mali, Bumble Bee
and Pixie all went to loving homes while Peppy and Zulu stayed with us.
The proud parent! Shadow and her pups 1997 Shadow and Zulu 2005 Zulu has gone on to become an Australian Champion in his own right,
and has won Best Working Dog, Runner-up Best Working Dog and Best Australian
Bred Working Dog at many shows. Although around 10 year old now, he has won
over 700 Challenge Points and still
competes and wins regularly, winning Australian Bred in Group three times and
Runner-up in Group in 2006. Our
imported Champions..... Lesley
and Rob at the
Lesley in the ring at the French
Specialty 2002
French Specialty 2004 In 1999 we were lucky enough to
be able to attend the Specialty Show of the Northern Belgian Shepherd Dog
Club in the UK and in 2002 we took our first Belgian Shepherd oriented trip
to Europe. We attended the French Belgian Shepherd Specialty Show and
traveled around France meeting a number of the most famous French breeders.
These trips led to friendships that enabled us to import our Paco (English Champion and now Australian Champion Corsini Lysander) from Audrey Maguire, and Amanda Mclaren of Corsini Kennels in
the UK in late 2002, and now Australian Champion Rhianne
(Ebontide Parisian Affair ) from Janice and Roger Clifford of Ebontide Kennels also in the UK in late 2004. Paco arrives - May 2003 Rhianne
arrives - January 2005 Although Paco is
also around 10 years old, he is also still shown and wins regularly. His
sons, daughters and grand children consistently do well in the show ring.
Because of the success of his progeny, he has won "Best Sire in
Show" at four recent Belgian Shepherd Specialty shows. His daughter Zoe (Graeshadow Camomile) won
Best of Breed at the Sydney Royal Show in April, 2006, with Paco himself winning Runner up Best of Breed, a fantastic
father-daughter win! Paco went on to win Best of Breed himself at the 2007
Sydney Royal Show, and has achieved over 700 Challenge Points. Rhianne achieved her Australian Championship title in
late 2005, and has won Best Baby Puppy, Best Minor Puppy and Best Junior in
the Working Dog Group. Our
second litter..... In 2006 we mated our Paco and our Rhianne and seven
lovely Groenendael puppies were born on Halloween -
31 October 2006. Five went to lovely homes, including one, Kyra, to our friend Rae Officer for a show career. We kept two puppies ourselves, the boy
Magic and the girl Avalon, both of whom have done well in the show ring.
Magic has done exceptionally well, winning two Baby Puppy in Group awards,
two Minor Puppy in Group, three Puppy in Group and Runner-up Best in Group by
the age of 9 months! He has also
placed first in a number of the Sweepstakes events run for 6-12 month old
dogs. We look forward to great things from our "babies" in the
future!
Magic
at 8 months Avalon at 8
months Photos of the gone but not
forgotten dogs mentioned above can be seen in the "In Memory"
section of this website, while the others can be seen in the "Meet Our
Dogs" "Puppies" or "Friends Dogs" sections. Comments, questions or like more information? Please
contact us, Rob & Lesley Kane, Email: robandlesley48@ozemail.com.au Telephone
(02) 4862 4738 within
Australia; or +61-2-4862-4738 International |
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